HISTORY ETHNOGRAPHY NATURE WINE-MAKING SITE MAP
Selected and rare materials, excerpts and observations from ancient, medieval and contemporary authors, travelers and researchers about Cyprus.
 
 
 
 
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SIR SAMUEL WHITE BAKER
CYPRUS AS I SAW IT IN 1879
page 101

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length the gipsy-van, which had been in sight for a full hour, drew up on the flat surface in front of th e shepherd's hut, and real comfort was at once at hand.1 Although the space within was limited, the furniture " was so carefully arranged that we had plenty of room to move about. The fall-slab table was usually down.'i and was only required for writing ; the chest of drawers was American walnut : a good solid and well-/seasoned wood, which did not provoke the temper like1 English furniture by the drawers sticking when in the act of opening, and leaving you in a hopeless position^ with a detached handle in either hand. This good' American chest was only three feet two inches highJ therefore it formed a convenient toilette-table beneathi a window, which, curtained with muslin and crimson!' cloth, had an exceedingly snug appearance ; and M cushioned seat upon either side upon the lid of a locker combined comfort with convenience. W e had a tiny little movable camp-table that could be adjusted in two minutes, and would dine two persons, providedthat no carving was performed, and that the dishes were handed round. The bed was athwart-ship at the far end beneath the stern-window, but at such a height* from the floor that several broad shelves beneath con tained gun-cases, ammunition, clothes, boots, tins m preserved provisions, and in fact everything that, although necessary, was to be kept out of sight. The only mistake in the arrangements was a very large and gorgeous open-brass-work Egyptian lantern, with glassof various colours and outlandish patterns in Arabesque. In the evening we formed an irregular lighthouse, as two ordinary carriage-lamps were fixed above and on either side the entrance door, while the gorgeous many-coloured lantern swung from the roof

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